The idea for Disneyland started when Walt Disney was visiting Griffith Park along with his daughters Diane and Sharon. Whereas watching them trip the merry-go-round, he got here up with the concept of a spot where adults and their kids might go and have enjoyable together. His dream lay dormant for a lot of years. Walt Disney additionally might have been influenced by his father's reminiscences of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago (his father labored at the Exposition). The Halfway Plaisance there included a set of sights representing various countries from around the world and others representing numerous durations of man; it additionally included many rides together with the first Ferris wheel, a "sky" ride, a passenger train that circled the perimeter, and a Wild West Show. One other likely influence was Benton Harbor, Michigan's nationally well-known Home of David's Eden Springs Park. Walt Disney visited the park and ultimately purchased one of the older miniature trains initially used there; the colony had the biggest miniature railway setup on the planet at the time.

While many individuals wrote letters to Walt Disney about visiting the Disney Studio, he realized that a useful movie studio had little to offer to the visiting fans. This started to foster ideas of constructing a site near his Burbank studios for tourists to visit. His concepts then developed to a small play park with a ship trip and other themed areas. Disney's initial idea, his "Mickey Mouse Park", began with an eight-acre (3.2 ha) plot across Riverside Drive. Disney started to visit different parks for inspiration and ideas, together with Tivoli Gardens, Greenfield Village, The Efteling, Tilburg, Playland, and Youngsters's Fairyland. He began his designers working on ideas, however these would grow into a undertaking much bigger than could be contained in eight acres (3.2 ha).

Disney employed a marketing consultant, Harrison Price from Stanford Research Institute, to gauge the right area to find the theme park based on the area's potential growth. With the report from Worth, Disney acquired one hundred sixty acres (65 ha) of orange groves and walnut timber in Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles in neighboring Orange County.

Difficulties in acquiring funding prompted Disney to analyze new methods of fundraising. He decided to make use of television, and created a present named Disneyland which was broadcast on the then-fledgling ABC television network. In return, the network agreed to help finance the new park. For the first 5 years of its operation, Disneyland was owned by Disneyland, Inc., which was jointly owned by Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, Western Publishing and ABC In 1960 Walt Disney Productions bought ABC's share (it had earlier bought out Western Publishing and Walt Disney). As well as, most of the shops on Principal Road, U.S.A. were owned and operated by different corporations who rented house from Disney.

Development began on July sixteen, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened one yr and one day later. U.S. Route one hundred and one (later Interstate 5) was beneath construction on the similar time simply to the north of the positioning; in preparation for the site visitors Disneyland was expected to convey, two more lanes were added to the freeway earlier than the park was completed.

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